Grocery-Store Bouquets

When you don't have time to be more creative, pump up the impact of a mixed bouquet purchased at the grocery store.

--Cut the stems really short and arrange them in a low, medium-wide vase.

--Group flowers of the same color into clusters, rather than evenly distributing all the different varieties, to create little focal points where the eye can rest.

A supermarket bouquet you bought for the colors, not the arrangement, can be salvaged at home.

--Take it apart, separating the medium- and large-size flowers from the smaller fillers and greenery.

--Bunch the larger flowers in your hand until you have a grouping you like.

--Gauge the proper height of the flowers by standing them next to the container and trim appropriately.

--Begin tucking in the small and thin flowers and greenery to fill in any gaps left by the larger flower heads.

--Place in a fun container, such as the bright bucket shown here.

One mixed bouquet in varying shades of one color can yield multiple arrangements if you're willing to take the arrangement apart.

--Separate the bouquet into two or three smaller bunches.

--Cut one flower to each stem at varying heights.

--Create several smaller arrangements in jars or colored glasses and group them together or spread them throughout your home for a bit of sweetness in every room.

Grab a few bouquets of zinnias in multiple colors for a playful, low arrangement.

--Gather the blooms of one color in your hand to form a pleasing mound; add a single contrasting color bloom to the center.

--Secure with a rubber band and place in a vase.

--Feed in blooms of another color to form an outer ring and fill the vase.

--Place a bit of greenery, such as bleeding heart foliage, around the outer edge for added contrast.

There's virtually no arranging to do when you divide a bouquet into single stems and place them in a collection of bottles or glasses.

--To create a pleasing skyline, vary container height and stem length.

--Here, a small coleus leaf in a tiny bottle is the lowest element in the arrangement, which builds in height with fuchsia, helleborus leaf, bleeding heart foliage, Queen Anne's lace, and tall fern.

Could this be any easier? Create this high-style display almost instantly with a pretty glass and a single bloom.

--An ice cream dish, a champagne bowl, and a martini glass all make attractive vessels for floating a showy dahlia.

--A bit of fiveleaf akebia vine gives the display an organic quality. Try any handy (nonpoisonous!) garden vine, such as wisteria or trumpet vine.

--With one bouquet, you can make several of these simple arrangements.

Inexpensive bouquet fillers warrant an arrangement of their own if you know what to do with them.

--Choose flowers with different shapes and colors to give the bouquet more substance, but also take advantage of their long stems and let them stand tall and spare in a slender cylinder vase.